Update: Remember, Analogue is opening up pre-orders for its Pocket again today, but you'll need to be quick if you want to get your hands on one.
Our Analogue Pocket review went live yesterday, and we had this to say about the system:
With its solid design, excellent display and wide range of accessories, the Analogue Pocket certainly makes an excellent first impression – and the inclusion of features such as Nanoloop and GB Studio expand the appeal of the system further.
That this device performs its duties admirably should come as no great surprise; Analogue's products have a solid reputation, and this latest venture only adds to that. The introduction of Analogue OS is tremendously exciting and bodes well for future products in the company's lineup.
Original Story [Sat 11th Dec, 2021 15:45 GMT]: The Analogue Pocket is yet another highly-desirable device from the company behind the Super Nt and Mega Sg, and those who preordered one some time ago will finally be getting their hands on it this month - initial orders are shipping on Monday.
Analogue has now announced that, on Tuesday December 14th, the machine will once again be available to order.
Those who order first on Tuesday can expect to get their Analogue Pocket sometime in Q1 2022. Those who order after that date are likely to have to wait until Q4 2022. Some later orders may fall into 2023.
That's not all, though - due to rises in component prices, the Analogue Pocket will now cost $219.99 (it was previously $199.99).
[source twitter.com]
Comments (61)
Looks like the chip shortage is biting in deeper. Maybe.
I'm just about OK with the price rise, not ideal based on the ordering issues last time. I just hope that the next order window isn't as chaotic and those who want one can get an order in.
@Damo Do you know if the crazy high taxes on games console imports to the UK from the USA are still a thing?
@Chris77 I don't think getting one is an issue, I think it's just about when you get it. The pre-order email stated that there won't be a limit on the total number of pre-orders, but some people will be waiting until 2023 to receive their units.
I need to see reviews for this thing to even consider it.
I don't think I'll make real use of it though with how many Anbernic devices I have now.
Apparently a review embargo lifts on December 13th though, so I might be persuaded yet.
Am i the only one who finds "Order now and get it in 2023 (If nothing more goes wrong)" rather silly?
@BionicDodo I hope so. I do agree with @MysticX, shipping 2023 is a long way out for a product that has been through production. I'm lucky enough to have a MegaSG so I know these guys make good products but this product seems illusive. Looking forward to seeing reviews next week. Hopefully the 2023 window is a last resort.
I want this so bad and I’m going to be there on the 14th hoping yo get my order in with the soonest wave.
For all those questioning out there, you can cancel your order at any time before it ships so … get your order in, see what wave you’re in. If you’re not happy, just cancel it.
I’m honestly so excited about the playtime thing they now have built into the OS. It’s what the 3DS used to have for playtime and history but now for retro carts 😍 I’m gonna nerd out so hard.
Good luck, everyone!
They upgraded all of us preorder people to 2-day shipping AND my local game shop has been really fleshing out their Game Boy selection.
Next week is looking goooooood.
Some of these preorders could be 2 years out from delivery. That’s just not enticing
@Chris77 This is purely down to sourcing components; they can only fulfill orders if they have the parts available.
Was looking forward to this but with the price increase plus the cost of the dock, shipping, export taxes, and potential wait times I'm not so sure if it's worth it any more.
@MysticX Not just you, there's no way in hell I'm reserving a luxury product I won't see until 2023, especially not electronics.
@MysticX Nope, you got another one who's playing the waiting game WITHOUT swiping my card.
As cool as it looks, I still have a functioning GBA and GB Micro. I can't really justify this purchase from the get-go, and FOMO won't win me over.
@farrgazer yup, modded 2 OG GBA’s and an SP with upgraded screens. Don’t need anything else with how easy and cheap it is to fix and refurb OG GBA consoles.
Resist the hype, at least until we see some real video and reviews. Isn't it a little fishy that pre-orders start again just when review embargo ends (13th December at 12pm)
I'm waiting to see if its really better than a modded Gameboy pocket/GC or GBA
@dimi Meh. Poorly timed embargo IMO, but it's not like Analogue has ever released anything other than top of the line products, so I think we pretty well know what we're getting. That is, if we can get it, of course... I was refreshing the screen non-stop at the original launch and never once saw them come in stock, so I'm still a bit concerned bots will beat me this time around too. And I'm not at all crazy about placing an order that won't be fulfilled until potentially 2023, so I don't know how to feel about this.
@Damo yea I get that. I guess it's coupled with knowing what the volumes are. If they are saying the first 100k in batch 1, second 100k after and so on then fair enough. That would show what the component squeeze really is.
The risk however is that they are producing 200 at a time. I was out of mobile reception first time round for about 3 minutes and that was enough to miss the first round, so minor bitterness on my part. I'm happy to wait, especially if it's another quality product, I'd rather get it in 2022 than 2023 of course.
@MysticX I don’t find it silly. I wish Sony and Microsoft took this approach. I feel like I’ve been stuck in limbo for next gen gaming the past year since getting a console is officially a bot war - by the time anyone is able to realistically buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X it’ll be the 10th generation of console gaming. At least Analogue is ensuring people have a realistic timeline.
Or you could put that 200 towards a phone that could hold every retro game ever made on it while taking up less than half the physical space (or 1/10,000th if you count carts) like a sane person.
@MysticX not even just order, but order and pay, no refunds
@UglyCasanova nah
They should raise the price to $500 and see if they still sell out in seconds.
And people will STILL pay that, no problem
@UglyCasanova like a sane pirate, sure 🙂
There’s a market out there who prefer to play games on something built exclusively for them as opposed to a flat touchscreen or third party controller adapater. Or who simply wants to have a phone separated from gaming.
2023 for a £200 product that’s already been manufactured prior is quite frankly ridiculous regardless of component shortages. Makes me laugh as well how full payment is needed, whatever happened to the days of putting down £20 to preorder something…….oh wait, it’s because that way they aren’t risking any of their own money but will happily tie up their customers money for months. What an appalling business model.
No way. When it’s available to buy and ship straight away then I will buy (if the screen is bigger than GBA SP, it feels and controls well, reviews well). Why let them play with my money for more than a year -crazy!
For that much money you could buy a Switch and play the games on virtual console...hold on.
Laziness and greediness seem to be recurring themes in the modern gaming landscape...
Can you use a flash cart on this thing?
@Rob13 If it runs on a real Gameboy, GBC or GBA, it will run on this
Why are you guys talking about chips? Are none of you worried about scalpers swooping in and taking up all the pre-order stock? For goodness' sake, two guys (CartoonDan and DarkTone) just openly suggested doing what scalpers do!
Whatever interest I had in this completely fell away after modding my GBA with an lcd and getting an Everdrive. I much prefer the wide form factor anyway. Not interested in playing TurboGrafx games on a small screen, and I have a Mister if I want to play portable on the big screen.
Just buy a Ds lite or GBA SP. The analogue pocket is way over priced. I can't believe anyone would actually pay more than what a Nintendo switch lite is worth. You can make one of these with $60 and a couple hours of labor. If it came with all the games pre installed then maybe it would be worth $150, but still having to buy and search for games? I was actually excited when this product was announced thinking it would be $100. Just bought a Ds lite in new condition for $20.
@Chris77 Yeah, volume does come into this. I have no idea how many units they're producing each time - it's going to be in the 1000s I would say, if not the tens of thousands - but people do forget that Analogue isn't Nintendo or Sony or Microsoft, and even those companies are struggling to keep up with demand.
It's basically a terrible time to be manufacturing any kind of hardware which requires microchips, be that games consoles or motorcars!
@Redturtle "You can make one of these with $60 and a couple hours of labor"
The FPGA chip alone is probably worth that, and there are two of them inside the Analogue Pocket.
@Rob13 Yep, you can. Flash carts are supported by all of Analogue's systems.
@Damo there is more than one way to make a similar device, it doesn't have to be made with the exact components. It doesn't have to be a copy and paste. I meant as long as it does the exact same thing. Sp or gba with LCD mod. $60 is what I paid to build mine, Add $20 for price increase still$140 cheaper.
@Redturtle All Analogue products use FPGA chips - that's the hook of the brand. FPGA is hardware-level emulation, not software-level.
And what you're talking about is taking old GBA systems and modding them, which is an entirely different thing. This is a brand-new product.
@Damo yea that is true. Evercade worked wonders to get the VS out when they did. I'll be in the queue tomorrow, just seen you guys have a hardware review up so off to read that, hope it's as good as everyone wants it to be, and those that are getting theirs this week have a fantastic time playing them this holiday.
I was considering one, but I don't think I'll make the most use of it it as I find myself mostly playing home console games like SNES and Mega Drive on handheld devices these days.
I also became aware of Analogue's shady business practices and treatment of hired developers when Endrift, the mGBA developer published an article about their experience.
https://endrift.com/2021/12/13/analogue-pocket-hate-story/
@farrgazer I don't see what the allure is all about. Why buy a product that hasn't been released to a wide audience for user reviews and feedback. Even if it works as intended the quality over time and life expectancy are things to consider. It may work perfectly but degrade in quality rather quickly especially with extended play by various audiences. I'll wait and see.
I got one in the first 4 minutes ! Just hope that puts me in Q1! If it doesn’t then I will just cancel
I'll miss because only Credit Cards -,-
Arrrr
I missed out on this the first time around so I ordered one today. As many will say, I sure hope I’m not waiting until 2023 for it. It does seem like a great product and I’m all about trying preserve my old video games. I definitely beat up my old systems as a kid.
@Damo I just want to give a sincere thankyou for posting this. Work has been busy and I missed this but when I saw this article during my lunch I was able to secure a preorder.
I was able to put my order in. I have a rather large collection of GB, GBC, and GBA games on carts that I've had for decades, so this is very appealing to me.
@Zeropulse You're welcome! Glad you got one!
@Azuris same. Had it in my basket as soon as preorders opened but was hoping for PayPal as didn’t have access to my cards at the time. No point now if it’s going to be 2023!
I imagine "pre-orders" will be available for quite some time, as most of these units won't even be shipping until likely late-2023 or beyond.
@RupeeClock There’s a ton of reviews on YouTube already
@K1LLEGAL
Yeah, we want to spend a lot of Money, give us other Methods of Payment
I get the appeal, and would probably buy one if I could get one straight away, I have many original GBA games, some GB games, I own three Gameboy Micros and an IPS modded OG GBA, but I think something like the RG351V or the RP2+ is better suited to me.
I own a legitimately own a lot of retro-games and the devices many use for stealing, I use for storing all my retro games on one device at a time. Just GB, GBC and GBA games are too limited a catalog in 2021, and the adaptors for Game Gear etc are monstrosities that ruin the aesthetic.
What if I want to play Starfox, Sonic 3 or Wip3out SE on that amazing screen? - you cant.
@faint
I'm aware, and the device looks good.
But the official firmware doesn't play things like SNES games.
I would be buying the product based on unofficial ROM loading firmware, and probably put a cover on the cartridge slot.
Which ultimately doesn't do much to separate it from my RG351V in terms of form factor and function.
Yey they shipping to Afghanistan but not to Poland ...
Why ?
@RupeeClock
There are always two sides of a story and that's one. But it doesn't seem like he got screwed. He was offered $25 an hour, he said no. They upped it to $50 an hour and he said yes if the details work. They didn't so he declined. Then he went on a long rant of things he heard and ripped on Kevtris while never having had talked to him.
I'm sure Kevtris and Analogue aren't saints, but I didn't think the developer's whining and speculation makes him look good or is a reason to not buy a pocket.
@cleveland124
You don't think it's suspicious that they low-balled Endrift at $10K and immediately doubled the offer to $20K when they didn't agree to it?
@RupeeClock
Analogue employs like 5 people and likely doesn't know fair market value for the work. How many people can reverse engineer a gba bios? It's such a niche thing that the people who can do it can probably ask what they want and feel justified walking away from reasonable offers.
But I don't really think it matters. If someone doesn't offer you fair market value, you say no and move on with your life. I think it makes you a bad person if you write write an article telling everyone how important you are and how bad they are that they couldn't see your value.
The whole thing kinda reads like an advertisement for mgba and just seems like the writer was biased from the start against working with Analogue unless they gave him everything he wanted.
I think alot of niche coders/developers are jealous of Kevtris. Without Analogue he is probably making cores as a labor of love and releasing them for free on the mister. But Analogue provided the capital and now he's making great money and doing what he wants and getting recognition for his talents.
Was able to get mine the second they were put up, just waiting to see what Group I get
By the time I get it in the mail it'll probably be jailbroken anyway and I'll just be able to upload every GB/GBC/GBA/GG/AL/NGPC/TG16 game onto a microSD
@Meteoroid Even if you load it with roms from an SD card, it's still the FPGA reading them, which means no emulation.
Yes, but as has been said already, the ability to load roms from SD will not be there from the start, even though it's a pretty safe bet it will be added via "jailbreak", as for the other Analogue machines.
Tap here to load 61 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...